"Tiandi yinyang jiaohuan dale fu"

"Tiandi yinyang jiaohuan dalefu" (Chinese: 天地陰陽交歡大樂賦; pinyin: Tiāndì yīnyáng jiāohuān dàlèfù)[lower-alpha 1] is a Chinese rhymed prose poem (fu) on sexual intercourse attributed to Tang poet Bai Xingjian (776–826). Although it is considered a lost work, fragments of the poem were discovered as part of the Dunhuang manuscripts by Paul Pelliot in 1908 and first published by Ye Dehui in 1914.

Poetic structure and contents

They read the Canon of the Plain Girl and look at the erotic pictures on the folding screen.
Setting the folding screens around them, they lie down, reclining on the pillows.
The beautiful lady takes off her silk skirt and stitched trousers.
Her cheeks are just like a bunch of flowers,
and her waist is just like a bunch of white silk strings.

— Translation by Sumiyo Umekawa.[2]

The poem is an example of fu, translated into English as "songs" or "description", which were often intended to be recited, rather than sung.[2] Specifically, it is a sufu (俗賦) or "vulgar fu", the likes of which were inspired by the oral traditions of Buddhism and Taoism during the Tang dynasty.[3] The poet writes in the preamble: "Although it takes the form of obscene talk, the idea of the song will proclaim the delightful part of human life. As joy granted to human beings, there is nothing greater than this."[4]

The rest of the extant poem comprises 240 lines and describes fourteen forms of sexual intercourse,[5] including coitus reservatus.[6] It promotes heterosexual sex as the "ultimate human pleasure",[2] while also affirming homosexual behaviour.[7] According to Robert van Gulik, the line "they read the Canon of the Plain Girl and look at the erotic pictures ..." is evidence that illustrated sex manuals existed from the Tang dynasty at least.[8]

Publication history

The poem is attributed to poet Bai Xingjian, who was active during the Tang dynasty.[1][9] It is now considered a lost literary work;[10] Ping Yao speculates that it "must have astounded post-Tang readers so much that the text disappeared after the Tang."[11] It remained in obscurity for centuries,[9] until fragments of the poem were discovered as part of the Dunhuang manuscripts by Paul Pelliot in 1908 and first published by Ye Dehui in 1914.[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Translated into English as "Poetic Essay of the Great Bliss of the Sexual Union of Heaven and Earth and Yin and Yang" or "The Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang Songs of Great Satisfaction in Sexual Pleasure".[1]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Umekawa 2005, p. 252.
  2. 1 2 3 Umekawa 2005, p. 258.
  3. ↑ Umekawa 2005, p. 259.
  4. ↑ Umekawa 2005, p. 272.
  5. ↑ Knowles 2018, p. 108.
  6. ↑ Wile 2018, p. 11.
  7. ↑ Umekawa 2005, p. 270.
  8. ↑ Umekawa & Dear 2018, p. 217.
  9. 1 2 Chen 2003, p. 163.
  10. ↑ Xie 2017, p. 110.
  11. ↑ Yao 2013, p. 217.
  12. ↑ Umekawa 2005, p. 255.

Bibliography

  • Chen, Jue (2003). "Revisiting the Yingshe Mode of Representation in 'Supplement to Jiang Zong's Biography of a White Ape'". Oriens Extremus. 44: 155–178. JSTOR 24047573.
  • Knowles, Jon (2018). How Sex Got Screwed Up: The Ghosts That Haunt Our Sexual Pleasure. Vernon Press. ISBN 9781622733613.
  • Umekawa, Sumiyo (2005). "Tiandi Yinyang Jiaohuan Dalefu and the art of the bedchamber". In Lo, Vivienne; Cullen, Christopher (eds.). Medieval Chinese Medicine: The Dunhuang medical manuscripts. RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 252–277. ISBN 0415342953.
  • Umekawa, Sumiyo; Dear, David (2018). "The Relationship between Chinese Erotic Art and the Art of the Bedchamber: A Preliminary Survey". Imagining Chinese Medicine. Vol. 18. Brill. pp. 215–226. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctvbqs6ph.21.
  • Wile, Douglas (2018). "Debaters of the bedchamber: China reexamines ancient sexual practices". JOMEC Journal (12): 5–69. doi:10.18573/jomec.169.
  • Xie, Taofang (2017). 敦煌文化寻绎 [Study of Dunhuang Culture] (in Chinese). Sichuan wenyi chubanshe. ISBN 9787541143793.
  • Yao, Ping (2013). "Historicizing Great Bliss: Erotica in Tang China (618–907)". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 22 (2): 207–229. doi:10.7560/JHS22202. JSTOR 24616669. S2CID 143056106.
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